Microsoft report reveals state of enterprise IoT adoption

Microsoft Corp.’s new research report IoT Signals is designed to provide a global overview of the IoT landscape. The vendor-neutral report surveyed over 3,000 IoT decision-makers in enterprise organizations in order to give the industry a holistic, market-level view of the IoT ecosystem.

Overall, the report suggested that IoT adoption is growing rapidly; however, the industry continues to face a significant IoT skills gap, as well as complexity and security challenges that, if remain unaddressed, may compromise the benefits to IoT.

“IoT is transforming businesses in every industry and is powering breakthrough innovations,” said Sam George, head of Azure IoT. “Our research shows that unlocking IoT’s full potential requires the industry to address key challenges like the skills shortage, security concerns and solution complexity. Microsoft is leading the way on simplifying and securing IoT so that every business on the planet can benefit.”

According to the report, 85% of respondents are in IoT adoption, and three-fourths of these have IoT projects in planning, and among those IoT adopters, 88% believe IoT is critical to business success.

IoT adopters believe they will see a 30% ROI, inclusive of cost savings and efficiencies, two years from now.

In terms of the IoT challenges, a staggering 97% of IoT adopters have security concerns when implementing IoT, but this is not hindering adoption, and 38% of IoT adopters cite complexity and technical challenges to using IoT as a barrier to furthering IoT adoption.

Additionally, a lack of talent and training present challenges for half of IoT adopters, and 47% say there are not enough available skilled workers.

The report also revealed that nearly one-third of projects — 30% — fail in the proof-of-concept stage, often because implementation is expensive or bottom-line benefits are unclear.

The report showed that while IoT adoption is taking off, many are still hitting road blocks. Microsoft teamed up with BCG Group to identify seven key ingredients for success in IoT: business strategy, leadership and organization, a technology roadmap, talent, operations and core business processes, partnerships and security.